The technology for regenerating finely divided particles of catalyst to remove deposits of carbonaceous material obtained from a hydrocarbon conversion operation with an oxygen containing regeneration gas has been a long standing subject of investigation resulting in numerous apparatus arrangements for accomplishing such operations. Many of these apparatus arrangements are considered excessive in that they are overly large, maintain and require large catalyst inventories and are very expensive to construct. On the other hand, many of the proposed apparatus arrangements are not readily adapted to existing refinery regeneration equipment and thus become lost in the archives of technology.
The problems associated with regenerating fluidizable catalyst particles have been aggravated by the development of more active low coke producing catalyst and the desire to minimize the catalyst inventory in the processing system employed. In these regeneration operations employing high activity crystalline zeolite conversion catalysts, it is particularly important to obtain substantially complete removal of carbonaceous deposits so that the recovery of available heat is maximized. Accordingly, the present invention is concerned with an improved method, system and apparatus arrangement for removing carbonaceous deposits from fluidizable solid particles.